Image  and  Patronage:theRoleofPortugal

in the Transmission of Scientific Knowledge

from Europe to China①

Catherine Jami

The transmission of scientific knowledge from Europe intoEast Asia initiated by Jesuit missonaries in the second half of thesixteenth century is one of the best documented cases of the cir-culation of science across cultures prior to the colonial era. Atthe time, contrary to what has happened, after the nineteenth century, countries such as China and Japan retained their scien-tific traditions, while integrating into them some of the outsideel-ements presented to them. In order to assess this phenomenon,itis important to characterise the knowledge transmitted in the con-text of post-Renaissance European science, and to analyse the modalities  of its  circulation.

The Jesuit missionaries travelled mainly on Portugueseboats, sailing to East Asia from Lisbon,through ports of the Por-tuguese empire. One can thus view the circulation of scientificknowledge as a mere side-effect of the Portuguese maritime ex-pansion, in the context of the Counter-Reformation. The impli-cations of this for the process of transmission still remain to beanalysed. Within this general framework, however,this paperwil1 focus on the role played by Portugal, as it was perceived atthe time. How was Portugal's role with regard to scientific mat-ters seen?  Was  there  anything  perceived  as“Portuguese”in  theknowledge transmitted? This perspective highlights one method-ological question:  what does  it  mean  to  label  some objects  in  or-der to characterise their provenance, when dealing with the histo-ry of science? Phrases like“European science”,“Western sci-ence”,and even “non-Western science”,crop up frequently, ifonly for convenience’s  sake.  On  the  other  hand, most  scientistsand some historians of science think that science is and should beinternational,and that the implications of assigning it a geo-graphical,cultural, or even worse, national, location are trou-bling.

This issue is unavoidable if we attempt to characterise thescience  brought  to  China  on Portuguese  ships: was  it  modern?  Je-suit? Western? European? Portuguese? Matteo Ricci(1552-1610),the founder of the China mission, who promoted the use of scientific knowledge in the service of evangelisation,noted   that:“[The Chinese]  want  to learn our  sciences, andabove all mathematics”.①It can be argued that he and his suc-cessors mainly  tried  to  present “their science ”as  Christian  sci-ence.

The historical discussion on this matter was initiated by Joseph Needham, who entitled his work Science and Civilisation in China, refusing the a priori characterisation that the use of theadjective“Chinese”might imply.  Needham argued that“after 1600,there ceased to be any essential distinction between world science and distinctively Chinese science”①,  because what theEuropean scientific revolution was producing at the time was not Western  science, but  Modern  science, which  is universal be- cause it uses a mathematical language. He nevertheless dwelt on the consequences of this science’s exportation to China by the Jesuits，   describing  this  process  as“the  imperfect   transmis-sion”.②If we follow him, there was a body of knowledge,“mod-ern-universal-science”, which was distorted in the process of transmission, because of the missionary goals of those who trans-mitted it.  Many historians,  while refuting Needham’s periodisa-tion, have echoed his negative view of the transmission process, and tried to determine the causes of its imperfection more pre-cisely. Some ascribe it to the fundamental“incommensurability”of“Chinese” and “Western”  world-views,③ and others, likeNeedham, to the religion the Jesuits were trying to promote. An-other view is that the Jesuits, even if they were neither “Jesuiti-cal”nor deliberately conservative, did not learn science in themost advanced European institutions. In particular,According to U. Libbrecht:

“The situation of mathematical education in Portugal is in some way comparable to that of Louvain. It was surely a pe-riod of decline. The sixteenth century was undoubtedly the century of Pedro Nu■es, but after his death in 1578 mathe-matics  came  into  decadence  for  several  reasons: the  expul-sion of the Jews, the institution of the tribunal of Inquisi-tion,with its condemnation of the systems of Galileo and Copernicus,the astrology which hindered scientific astrono- my,and the decline of Portuguese navigation. Indeed,when Antoine Thomas①arrived in Coimbra in 1678, he complainsin a letter about the lack of printed books on mathemat- ics.”②

In other words,the Portuguese connection was as unfortunate asthe Jesuit connection itself:they were two inhibiting factors in thetransmission phenomenon, to take up Needham’schemical metaphor.

In  what  follows,  I do  not  wish  to  further  these  attemptsatexplaining the limitations of this transmission. In the case of thisand many other aspects of the history of mathematical sciences inChina, discussion  of limitations, of what there  was  not, what  therecould have or should have been(judging by twentieth- centurystandards),already occupies a large space in the literture, andtendsto obscure what actually took place.Besides pointing topossible relevant meanings of the problematicadjectivesdis-cussed above,the alternative approach proposed here-focusingon the actors’viewpoints-opensthewayto a historicalassess-ment of the transmission rid of the prejudicesinducedby toolin-ear a view ofscientific progress. First, I will discuss the Chineseknowledge and view of Portugal and of its scholarship,relying onsome seventeenth-and eighteenth-century sources.Then,I will turn to discussing how Portugal stood in comparison to otherEuropean  entities  involved  in  the  transmission, and  how  sciencewas used to challenge its patronage of the  China mission. In bothparts of the paper, results are presented together with reflectionsand suggestions for further inquiry.

CHINESE IMAGES

1. The   Zhifang   waiji(1623) ①

The first geographical work giving a description of Europe inChinese was published in 1623. According to Pfister, the two Je-suits Pantoja and de Ursis started writing this work as an explana-tion of Ricci’s map  Wanguo quantu(“Complete Map of all Countries”).  After Pantoja’s  death,  it was completed  by  Aleni. ①It seems that the book was widely read and had a significant im-pact on Chinese scholars’ world-view.②In the eighteenth centu-ry, it was included in the famous imperial collection Siku quan-shu(“Complete library of the four treasuries, 1782), a way ofgranting imperial sanction to the book.The general description ofEurope  in  it begins  as  follows:

“Europe is the second largest continent(after Asia,thatis). To its south is the Mediterranean Sea. To the south the land comes out of the  sea at 35 degress.To the north the land comes out of the Ice Sea at more than 80 degrees. North and South are separated by 45 degrees, a distance of 11250 lis. To the west it starts with the Western Sea Islands of Azores, at the  Origin  degree. To  the  east it extends  to River Ob, at 92 degrees, distance of23000 lis. It has more than  seventy   countries, the largest of which are: Spain, France,Italy,Germany,Flanders,Poland,Hungary,Den- mark,Yunchuya,③Sweden, Norway, Creece,Muscovy. In the Mediterran Sea are the islands of Crete and others. In the  Western  Sea  are  the  islands  of Ireland  and of Angli- a.”①

The text goes on to explain that all European peoples and their Kings are Christians, and live in harmony, and to describe some aspects oftheir customs.

As can be seen on the map, Portugal is considered part of Spain: Li  Zhizao's  preface  to  the  book is dated  1623, when  thekings of Spain ruled Portugal(1580-1640). This is how the lat-ter country is described:

There are more than twenty large countries pertaining to Spain, divided altogether into more than one hundred small-er entities. The one farthest to the West is called Portugal, divided into five provinces. It used to have its own king,but eventually there was no heir, so the King of Spain, being a relative, rules the country as a substitute. Within its bordersis  a  large river  called  Tagus: running  through  its  capital  Lis-bon, it  flows into the  sea.  Therefore  merchant ships  going  inthe four directions are plenty. This capital is a meeting place  of  Europe. The  land  produces  fruits, silk  brocade  a-mong the most beautiful to be found; aquatic animals are al- so plenty.  The wine produced from this land is excellent, and crossing the sea to China,it does not alter in the least. The  counrty altogether has  two  universities: Evora and  Coim-bra.Eminent sages teach there. Those invited [to teach] by the ruling king go on receiving a pension to the end of their lives even if they interrupt their teaching. Many of the best European scholars come from these universities. Recently Master  Suarez, of the  Society  of  Jesus, wrote a theology (douluriya)② book.①  It is most subtle  and  broad, andsurpasses the  eminent  sages  of the  past  centuries: its  virtueis utmost in scholarship. The country also has a land be- tween  two rivers, the perimeter of which is only 700 lis, where many high gentlemen meet to cultivate theology. It has 130 villages, and 1480 churches,25000 water springs, and 200 stone bridges. There are six big cities on the sea. From this one can see this land’s prosperity.[…]Euro- peans’ establishment  of a sea  route  around  Africa, the  Cape of Good Hope and through the Indian Ocean to China started from this country.”②

The description of all European countries is extremely flat-tering, pointing out various remarkable features of each, No linkis established between the Portugal(Boerduwaer) described hereand the Folangji(a transliteration of“Franks”), the name underwhich the Portuguese were notorious to the Chinese for their mar-itime expansion in Southeast Asia.①

As for learning, it is interesting to note that Suarez wasmentioned under Portugal, although he was Spanish:patronage,and therefore the place where scholars worked, was more relevantthan their nationality. The significance of the two Portuguese uni-versities’ and of Coimbra theology’s mention will be better un-derstood in the light of Europe’s general description, in whichthe school system and curriculum are described:

“European countries all cultivate learning. Kings have es-tablished schools. Each country’s province has a universi-ty, each prefecture’s  town  has  a  school. The masters  ofthese schools are chosen for their knowledge and virtue.Masters of colleges and universities are also chosen for theirexcellence in knowledge and virtue. Students are many,upto several ten-thousands.The school studies are divided intofour subjects:ancient sages, history of each country,litera-ture and poetry,essays and argumentation. Pupils study from the age of seven or eight tothat of seventeen or eigh-teen, when they become bachelors in their field of studies.The best of them enter college, also called division of prin-ciples, where there are three topics. The first year one stud-ies logic(luorijia),that is,the method for discriminatingtrue from false. The second year one studies physics(feixi-jia),  that  is, the  scrutiny  of the  Way  of nature  and  princi-ples. The third year one studies metaphysics(modafeixiji-a),that is the study of allthat is above nature and princi-ples.  All this is called philosophy(feiluosuofeiya).Thenone  becomes  master in  one’s  field of study. Again  the bestof them enter university,  whicn is divided into four branch-es,among which they have to choose.Medicine,concen-trating  on  disease,  government, concentrating on the  prac-tice of political affairs, canon law, concentrating on lawsdefending religion, theology, concentrating on conversion toreligion(jiaohua). All study for several years, and thenbecome doctors. There are very strict examinations.[…].②Apart from these four sections[medicine, government, canon law, and theology] of higher studies, there is the study of measurement(du) and counting(shu),which is called mathematics(mademadijia). It also belongs to the section of philosophy(feilusuoke).  It explores the measure and quantity of objects’forms(wuxing).  One measures how large their whole is. One counts how many their parts are.Both can be done either discarding the object and discussing it voidly-then those who count are arithmeticians(suanfa- jia), those who measure are geometers(liangfajia); or em- bodying the object--then those who count, making harmony in the  sounds resonance, are  musical harmonists(lülüjia), those who measure, matching time with the heavenly revolu- tions, are calenderists(lifajia).These studies are also es- tablished with masters, but they are not part of the examina- tions for selecting officials.”①

After this general description, the country singled out for the excellence  of  its  mathematical  sciences(as well as of its theolo-gy) is  Spain. Two  scholars  are  mentioned: a long-lived  and  pro-lific astronomer whose name is transcribed as Duosidazhu(possi- bly Gherardo of Cremona, 1114-1187),  and the learned KingAlfonso(1222-1284), especially keen on astronomy and calen-dar, who investigated heavenly motions and the calendar, pro-ducing a book which gave annual differences, still in use at thetime when the Zhifang waiji was written.②In Italy,we are told,a  remarkable  automatic  clock  had  been  made,   which  had  twelvelayers,  with the  Sun,  Moon,  and  Five  Planets’ motion  represent-ed in the middle.① This is very likely Giovanni de Dondi’s fa-mous planetarium.②As we have seen, Portuguese scholarshipwas  noteworthy  in  theology: but  contrary  to  Spain,   no  mention  ofits accomplishments in astronomy or mathematics is found. Thisseems to corroborate Libbrecht’s assessment of Portuguese scien-tific education quoted above. One should keep in mind, howev-er,that theology was held in much higher regard than the mathe-matical sciences in the Zhifang waiji.

2. The  Kunyu tushuo  50000476_0114_3③

Let us now turn to a second Jesuit geographical work, theKunyu tushuo, composed by Verbiest in 1672.④ It is a revisedversion of the Zhifang waiji, including the description of Portu-gal. It is still in the paragraph devoted to Spain, but has beenupdated:

“To the East of this country is Portugal. In its capital is riv-er Tagus’s  mouth.The  merchant ships  going  in the  four di-rections are plenty. It is a meeting place of Europe. The land produces fruits,silk brocade among the most beautiful to  be  found,  aquatic  animals  are  also  plenty. The  wine  pro- duced from this land is excellent, and crossing the sea to China, it does not alter in the least. The country altogether has two universities.Eminent sages teach there. Those in- vited [to teach there] by the ruling king go on receiving a pension to the end of their lives even if they interrupt their teaching.  Many of the best European scholars come from these universities.  There  is  also  a  land  between two  rivers, the perimeter of which is 700 lis. It has 1480 churches, 25000  water springs,  and 200 stone bridges. There are six big  cities on the sea.[…] Europeans’ establishment of  a sea route around Africa, the Cape of Good Hope and through the Indian Ocean to China started from this country.”①

Portugal is now an independent country. More relevant to ourtopic, neither the names of Coimbra and Evora, nor theology arementioned any more. In comparison, a description of French a-cademia centred in Paris with more than 40000 students andbranches in seven other places has been kept from the Zhifangwaiji. So has the description of the Italian planetarium.TheGeneral description of the European curriculum and that of Alfon-so’s  contribution to astronomy  have  also  been  deleted. Do  thesechanges in the text reflect the fact that in the forty years betweenAleni(1582-1649) and Verbiest(1623-1688),the Iberian peninsula had lost its image and prestige with respect to learning?It is also possible that Verbiest thought that a detailed account ofEuropean  scholarship was unnecessary in a geographical book,orthat, with the rise of learned societies,he thought the picture giv-en by Aleni was no longer accurate.② In any case all the me-dieval and scholastic learning, in which Spain and Portugalplayed an eminent role, and on which Aleni(an Italian who hadstudied at the Roman College) prided himself, has been ignoredby Verbiest.

This leads to a hypothesis which will have to be checked byfurther research. The Portuguese Jesuits’contribution to thetranslation or compilation of Chinese works in the late Ming,mostly Manoel Dias  Jr.(1574-1659)① and  Francisco Furtado(1587-1653),②  reflect  the  strength of  scholasticism  in  Por-tuguese  universities:the  former’s  Tianwenlüe( a cosmologicalwork,  giving  an  account  of what  was  studied  in  Jesuit  colleges  asthe Sphere, 1615), and the latter’s Huanyouquan(Chinese translation of Aristotle’s De Coelo.1628),and Minglitan(Chi-nese adaptation of Coimbra University’s Logic and Physics, which included the commentary on Aristotle’s Categories,1631)are typical products of this scholastic education, as opposed tothe more technical and mathematical works then produced by I-talian Jesuits trained at the Roman College. Althouth one cancontrast the Roman College to Coimbra University in this respect,the  two  types  of  work  were  not  mutually  exclusive,as  Ricci'swritings show.

3.Jesuits’nationalities in the Ming History

The Ming History was compiled, as was customary, during the first reigns of the dynasty that followed.I have looked formentions of Portuguese Jesuits and their writings in three differentsections:Lizhi(Calendar  Record), Yiwenzhi(Bibliography) andthe chapters devoted to foreign countries, which record the eventsrelated  to  them.  The  latter  mentions  three  European  countries:“Folangji”,50000476_0117_1①Holland,②and Italy.③The two former are men-tioned in connection with East and Southeast Asian affairs.Al-though it is mentioned that the Folangji settled in Macao, no ref-erence to any Jesuit who entered China is found there.

Events connected to the Jesuit mission are recorded under I-taly, and those linked to the Calendar Reform in the CalendarRecords.④Manoel Dias Jr.’s name appears twice in the MingHistory’s chapter on Italy,  where a list of Westerners(all ofthem Jesuits) who came  to  China after Ricci  is  given:

“Longobardo,Vagnoni,Aleni,de Ursis,all from Italy; Schreck,from  Germany; Pantoja,from  Spain; Dias,from Portugal;all these being countries of Europe.Their customs and products, much boasted, are recorded in the Zhifang waiji.Therefore we do not explain them here.”①

This  last  remark  is  not  altogether obliging: it seems  to  reflect  thegeneral attitude towards Jesuits in the early Qing. On the whole,Portugal  as  a  maritime  power  in  Southeast  Asia, not  clearly  dis-tinguished from Spain, has nothing to do with Dias’ country,and,from this official historiographical account, seems to havenothing to do with Westerners versed in astronomy. That all Je-suits were recorded under Italy reflects the fact that they primarilysaw and depicted themselves as representing the Christian reli-gion, whose sovereign was in Rome. Indeed the Jesuits’ loss offavour with the Kangxi Emperor after a papal legation was sent toChina at the beginning of the eighteenth century is usually at-tributed to the Emperor’s realisation that they were all servingthe same foreign power, the Vatican.

The  other  occurrence of  Dias’  name  is  in  the   Lizhi②(to-gether  with  those  of de  Pantoja, de Ursis,  and  Longobardo), inthe summary of a memorial submitted by Li Zhizao in 1616(Wanli44). The memorial points to their skills in astronomy andproposes setting them to work on a calendar reform. In this andthe surrounding passages they are referred to as being Da Xiyangren,from the name given to the Atlantic Ocean,as in the Zhi-fang waiji.Dias' Chinese work on cosmology,  the Tianwenlüe,is  mentioned  in  the  Yiwenzhi, ①  but  under  Ricci’s  name.②In the Yiwenzhi there is no mention of any author’ s place ofbirth.

Ultimately, it is not clear that Dias contributed much to pro-moting the mathematical sciences in China. According  to Pfister,“in 1614 and 1615,Fr.Valentim Carvalho,Provincial of Japanand China,commissioned him to visit all residences and to pub-lish the prohibition, soon to be revoked,of teaching mathematicsor any other sciences  other than that of the Gospel to the Chi-nese”.③It was in that year that the Tianwenlüe was completed.Either Dias disagreed with the orders he had received,or in hismind Aristotelian cosmology was a complement to the Gospel rather than a branch of mathematical sciences. Dias had taught theology for six years in Macao. It is important to note that theTianwenlüe concludes with a description of recent discoveries made by Galileo with his telescope：his observation of Saturn,ofJupiter s four moons, and so on. This shows that a Jesuit who had apparently never studied elsewhere in Europe than Portugal was perfectly aware of the most recent astronomical innovations. How he got to know about them is another matter. Given that Dias left Europe for Goa in  1601， and had been in China since 1611，one can safely rule out the possibility that he heard of thisat Coimbra or Evora（Galileo began observing with his telescope in 1609）. It reveals that information travelled remarkably quicklyand was available to him in China，④but also that he was capableof fully understanding and  accepting these  developments.① Thispoints to the links between the China Jesuits and the educationalnetwork set up by the society of Jesus in the Portuguese maritimeempire.It also indicates that the assessment of Portuguese scientific education as being backward might need some qualification.

4.Imperial sanction：the Siku quanshu’s  assessment

Several scientific books written by Jesuits，includingAleni's Zhifand waiji and Verbiest’ s Kunyu quantu，  werecopied in the imperial collection Siku quanshu. Others are men- tioned in the Siku quanshu zongmu tiyao(“Annotated catalogueof the complete library of the four treasuries”，1782)， a collectionof bibliographical compiled at the same tine.There againthe Jesuit authors are characterised as “Westerners of the Ming dynasty”： the nationality distinction once more appearsto  have   been   irrelevant. Dias’Tianwenlüe is not  mentionedin them. The note  on the Huanyouquan (the  Chinese adaptation of De C■lo)  contains an interesting assessment ofJesuit  works：

“A work by the Westerner of the Ming dynasty Fu Fanji，written during the Tianqi era(1621-1627).It discusses the Christian religion，and the solid，pure and incorruptible spheres and so on. Its fitteen chapters are entirely devoted to explaining those methods.

Commentary：Indeed Europeans’ techniques in astronomical computation are much more accurate，and their instruments much more ingenuous thanthose of their predecessors[at the  Astronomical Bureau]. But  no  other heterodox sect  has ever gone so far  in  exaggerations，falsities， absurdities，and implausibilities.By choosing to take their techniques and to forbid the spread of their doctrine，our dynasty has showndeep wisdom.”②

Here the description of the book’s content and the commentaryshow that a line  was drawn between two aspects of the Jesuitswritings：on  the  one  hand，their religion and cosmology  are  re- jected，on the other hand their computational astronomy is re- tained as relevant and useful to the imperial power.The compil- ers Siku quanshu were not interested in distinguishing betweenvarious European countries and their styles of learning：this is inkeeping with the Jesuits desire to present Christendom as a unit-ed entity.However，the cosmology criticised here as being bet- erodox corresponds to the scholastic Aristotelian body of knowl- edge taught at Coimbra around 1600，which went together withthe theology for which the Zhifang waiji praised the university.So it appears that it is the very feature that can be characterisedas a strong point of Portuguese Jesuit education that was subse- quently dismissed as heterodox by Chinese scholars under imperi- al sponsorship.

5. Chouren from the West

Another Chinese assessment is found in the Chouren zhuan(“ Notes on Mathematicians and Astronomers” )， compiled in 1799 by Ruan Yuan and some mathematicians who worked for him. The mention of somebody’s  name  in  it  is  a  possible criteri-on for knowing whether that person was regarded as a mathemati- cian-astronomer at the time. Whereas the Siku quanshu zongmu tiyao can be taken to reflect the imperial view，the Chouren zhuan might be taken to reflect that of the scholarly community which flourished  especially  in the Lower Yangtze region，inde-pendently from imperial sponsorship.①

Compilations of biographical notes were a common genre.  Each note would start by giving  the  person’s， name， place  of ori-gin，and the date of his graduation(if he was a jinshi). Chapters43 to 46 of Chouren zhuan(the last four chapters)are devoted to Westerners(Xiyang ren)；the previous chapters are classified  by dynasty，that is， according to chronology.Chapter 46 mentions， among others，Euclid(with an appendix devoted to Clavius)， Ptolemy， Archimedes， Tycho  Brahe， all of whom  also  figured， a-mong others， in the scientific writings of the Jesuits. In  somecases，we are told when they lived： Ptolemy，for example, livedduring the Yongjian era(126-132)， at the time of Emperor Shundi of the later Han dynasty.① Chapters 44 to 46 mentionmainly Jesuits. Their place of birth  is not given：the  generic termXiyang seems to be precise enough.The date given is usuallyhat of their arrival in China，sometimes of the period when they worked at the Imperial Board of Astronomy.Two of them can be dentified  as Portuguese：

·Manoel Dias Jr.(Yang Manuo)，for whom the only bio-  graphical datum given is that he entered China in the Yimao year of the Wanli reign-period(1615， instead of 1611). Then  a summary of the main points of his Tianwenlüe， which describes the Ptolemaic cosmology，assessed in the following way at the end  of the note：

Manoel Dias Tianwen lüe and Matteo Ricci’s Qiankun tiyi are quite similar. For they both derive from the same  source.Therefore the accounts they give resemble each oth-er.Since the advent of the elliptic heliocentric theory，② they have come [to seem]stranger and stranger.”①

This judgement is in keeping with that  of the Siku quanshu zong- mu tiyao on the Huanyouquan， although it concerns individuals and their writings rather than a whole“sect”.  Also，the Chouren zhuan is more concerned with history than with orthodoxy，taking the chronological dimension into account：it rejects Ptolemaic cos-mology on the basis of a more recent astronomical theory， not ona charge of heterodoxy.

·Andre Pereira(Xu Moude，1690-1743)， born in Porto asAndrew Jackson， and later naturalised Portuguese. He was Ig-natius k■gler’s assistant at the Imperial Astronomical Bureau. They worked together on the Lixiang kaocheng houbian(“Sequelto the Compendium of Observational and Computational Astrono- my”，1742)， which adopted elliptic orbits for solar and lunar mo- tions.In the  Chouren zhuan， he is mentioned in the note onK■gler as having helped the latter revise the solar and lunar mo-tion tables.②

From the fact that the Ming History recorded the nationali-ties of at least some of the Jesuits，we may infer that Ruan Yuanand his collaborators had access to information concerning thecountries from which Jesuit astronomers came，but found it irrele- vant.Judging from the Chouren zhuan and the Chinese sourcesdiscussed previously， Western studies(Xixue)formed a whole， in which Chinese scholars discriminated between useful tech- niques-the mathematical sciences，  of the kind first taught byClavius at the Roman College-and dangerous absurdities-thescholastic composite of theology and Aristotelian philosophy inwhich Coimbra was outstanding.

PORTUGUESE PATRONAGE AND EUROPEAN RIVALRIES

1. Some questions

Let us now turn to the other side of the exchange， which was by no means as unanimous and united as Aleni or Verbiest claimed in their accounts of Europe.The conflicts and rivalries among European powers had important consequences for the transmission of scientific knowledge from Europe to East Asian countries.

Here I would first like to draw attention to a question that should be investigated，  although it is beyond the scope of this study.What were the exact modalities of the Portuguese patron- age  of the  China mission， especially as regards science? The case of Antoine Thomas(1644-1709)shows that patronage was not always directly bestowed by the king. ① Born and educated inBelgium， Thomas taught at Coimbra for almost two years (March 1678-January 1680) before leaving Europe for China from Lis- bon.During that time， he started corresponding with the Duchess of Aveiro(1630-1715)， who generously donated not only to the China mission，but also to those of the Philippines，Mexico，Pe- ru，and California. The correspondence was to continue from China，and it is to her that Thomas dedicated his Synopsis Math- ematica. ①This book(which is said to have been translated intoChinese)deserves closer study，bearing in mind the fact thatThomas was one of the Kangxi Emperor’s  mathematics teachers.In one of her letters to Thomas， the Duchess asked him about hisobservations of the 1680 comet. ②This points to a combination ofreligious and scientific patronage，and to networks of different in- terests at work behind such patronage relationships，in the Por-tuguese context.

Considering Portugal’s role in a broader European context，the implications of trade rivalries were especially obvious in one case：that of Japan. After the proscription of Christianity，alltrade with the Portuguese was banned，and only Dutch ships wereallowed into Deshima， because，it has been argued，the Japanesegovernment was aware that the Dutch were not of the same religionas the Portuguese  and  the Jesuits. As a result， it  was throughDutch books that Japanese scholars first learned about Europeanscience，and this field of study was labelled“Dutch studies”(Rangaku)：this of course implies a different content from thescience taught by the Jesuits in China. But it also implies anawareness of the difference between scholarship from two differentparts of Europe：Jesuits’ Chinese writings on astronomy   andmathematics that did not mention religion were eventually allowedinto Japan. It would be interesting to know more about otherAsian countries，  espcially India，where Jesuits astronomers wereat work in  Goa.

Several  religious orders were involved in missionary work， and figured in tensions among Catholic countries. In China，therivalry  between Portugal and Spain was paralleled， it seems， bythe conflicts between Jesuits and missionaries of the mendicantorders.These conflicts often focused on methods of evangelisa-tion.Besides the famous Rites Controversy，①the question ofwhich layers of the population one should try to convert was anissue.The Jesuits’choice to address the Chinese elite was strongly criticised by the Franciscans.The use of science as ameans to arouse interest in Christianity is obviously linked to thatchoice：there is an interesting parallel between the use of scientif-ic experiments to impress scholars and that of miraeles to impressordinary people.The modalities of introduction of European sci-entific knowledge into China in the seventeenth century reflectthe networks of religious orders and mission patronage in Europeat the time.Again， it would be interesting to know whether thiscan be extended to other East Asian countries. A correlation be- tween the Portuguese maritime expansion and trade on the one hand， and the presence of Jesuits，on the other hand， with theiremphasis on scientific activity can be put forward as a workinghypothesis for a broader study.

2.Portugal versus France：Loyalty and the use of mathematics

Portugal’s control over the China mission was challenged to-wards the end of the seventeenth century. In 1678，Verbiest(who was both the Superior of the China mission and the Directorof the Astronomical Bureau)wrote a famous letter to all EuropeanJesuits， asking that more fathers versed in the mathematical sci-ences be sent to reinforce the mission，whose survival dependedon such skills.In writing this letter，he was choosing to seek helpfrom whoever would be able and willing to give it in Europe. Thisshows that he was more concerned with the continuation of hiswork(missionary and astronomer，it is impossible to dissociatethe two)than with preserving the Portuguese monopoly of patron-age.①The decline of Portuguese power resulted in a split be-tween the mission’s interests and that of its patron.Money，butalso skills，books，and instruments for the mathematical sci-ences， were needed.

The mission sent by Louis XIV in 1685 was a response toVerbiest’s appeal. In fact，the“King’s Mathematicians”’expe-dition to China was the result of a convergence of interests fromthree  different  sides：

-Jesuit interests in France;Ihe French King’s attention wasdrawn to Verbiest’s letter by his Jesuit confessor Father de laChaise.Framce，the“Church’s eldest daughter”，had to upholdits Prestige by supporting Catholic missions.

-The interests of scientific discovery；In the 1670s，the as- tronomer Gian-Domenico Cassini(1625-1712)，then directorof the Paris Observatory， submitted  to  the  minister Colbert(1619-1683) a plan to send Jesuits to China to make astronomical ob-servations，in  order to advance  their knowledge in that field，es- pecially concerning latitudes，longitudes，and magnetic declina- tions.It seems to have been the first time that a scientific expedi-tion to China for the benefit of an European institution was sug-gested.

-Thirdly，France’s  diplomatic and political  ambitions；Therewas a plan to send French envoys to Asian courts.One of the Je- suits who left France in 1685 never reached China，but stoppedin Siam instead. An embassy in Persia was also planned.Diplo-matic  and commercial interests were closely linked, at a timewhen the East India Companies of several countries were compet- ing for Asian trade.This was clearly a challenge to the decliningPortuguese maritime power.

The wonderful achievements of French science were meantto bear witness both to the Sun King’s might and to the superiori-ty of the Christian religion.This link between science，as ameans to penetrate the wonders of nature， and religion， as theultimate explanation of these wonders， is apparent in a letterLeibniz wrote to Colbert in 1675：

“A King of Persia will cry out in admiration for the tele- scope’s effect， and a Chinese Mandarin will  be delightedand amazed when he understands the infallibility of a Ge-ometer Missionary. What will these people say，when they see this wonderful Machine which you have had built，which really represents the state of the heavens at any given time?I think they will have to acknowledge that human nature has something diving，and that this divinity is communicated es- pecially to Christians.The secret of the heavens，the magni- tude of the Earth and the measurement of time are all of thatnature.”①

Here there appears to be a clear logic linking state interests，science and religion， a logic which justified patronage.

The arrival in China of the five “Mathematicians”was marked by  several  difficulties. They  did  not  pass  by  Macao，asthey had nottaken the oath of allegiance to the King of Portugal，who had refused them a passport. When they arrived at Ningbo (Zhejiang)they were not allowed by the local authorities to go ontowards Peking，and it was only thanks to Verbiest’s intercessionwith Kangxi that they were finally permitted to proceed towardsthe capital.In this episode two things are worth noticing：in thefirst  place，Verbiest interceded  against  the  will  of the  Portuguesefathers，including his own superior，so that no king should beoffended，and for the greater advantage of the mission”；① sec-ondly，in order to convince the Emperor，he told him about the  French’s scientific skills；it must have been a decisive argument，as the counter-order sent by Kangxi to prevent the French from being expelled shows:

“It is not improbable that among the foreigners，Hong Ruo- han[de Fontaney] and others，are those who may know the method of calendar-making.If so，We order them to repair to Peking and wait for Our employment[…]”②

An interesting account of these events is given by Fr.Le Blanc.①According to him，the Portuguese fathers tried to con-fiscate the instruments brought from France and to forbid the French to make any observations when travelling. Moreover，the French were ordered to conceal their scientific skills from the Emperor.This was of course incompatible with their plans：②they were supported by Louis XIV specifically to make observa- tions and as scientific envoys to Kangxi. The interference of the Portuguese was only part of an attempt to prevent the French from setting up an autonomous mission，and also from obtaining the Emperor’s special favour for their scientific abilities. Itseems that the French Jesuits’ scientific competence threatenedall those who had taken the oath of allegiance to Portugal，inso-far as it obtained for the French imperial favour and indepen-deuce.The China Jesuits appear to have been aware that sci-ence was the main motivation of Kangxi’s interest in and toler ance of them.

Bouvet and Gerbillon，two of the king’s mathematicians whostayed at the court， wrote several letters in which they describeboth their scientifice practice and their teaching to Kangxi. Theyalso sent reports to the French Academy or  Sciences. In the sameletter， Bouvet mentions that they were teaching philosophy to the Emperor：

“[…]After having completed this introduction to philosophy in Tartar，which we made as briefly and clearly as we  could，suppressing all the involved terms and pure chi- canery，according to the style of the Moderns，we started  with physics，and knowing that this prince has a very high opinion of European medicine，and that he most wishes to know the structure of the human body， we start this part of philosophy by the science of the human body， in which，in addition to a short anatomy with all the figures and their ex- planations and all the beautiful discoveries of the authors， both ancient and modern，we will put，with the help of God，all  the  curious  observations  that  we  have  here  in the first part of the memoirs of the gentlemen of the  Academy of Sciences on the animals and all those that we will get  fromthese gentlemen on the same subject[…]” ③

What is being defined here is a French—or modern?—al- ternative to the scholastic curriculum we encountered earlier. Bouvet’s intention is to praise the works of the academicians，away of glorifying the King of France.He wantsto promote the re- lations between  Louis  XIV and Kangxi:

“If these two great monarchs knew each other，the mutual esteem they  would have for each other’s royal virtues  could not but prompt them to tie a close friendship and demon-  strate it to each other，if only by an intercourse in matters of science and literature，by a kind of exchange between the two crowns of everything that has been invented until now in the way of arts and sciences in the two most flourishing em- pires of the Universe.If Heaven graced us with the achieve-  ment of this goal，we would feel to have done a lot for the good of Religion  which，under  the  auspices  and  protection of two such powerful princes，could not fail to progress con- siderably in this empire.” ①

It is clearthatin Bouvet’s mind，his triple activity of mis- sionary，correspondent of the French Academy and teacher of the Emperor correspond to a coherent project in thecontext of“cultural exchanges”between France and China；these ex- changes would lead“naturally”to the evangelisation of the lat- ter.To my knowledge，no Jesuit had ever written in this way concerning the  King of Portugal：the modalities of patronage  were quite different.We should also note that Portugal has altogether been evicted from the scene as set up by Bouvet.To some ex-  tent，so has the Society of Jesus，unless  one  takes  the  view  that the greater glory of God and that of the Sun King are one and the same.

The main topic taught by the French Jesuits to the Kangxi Emperor was geometry. It is well known that they used Pardies textbook，and that it resulted in a new work entitled Jihe yuan-  ben，②included in the imperially commissioned mathematical en-cyclopaedia Shuli jingyun，published in 1723，which represented the basic mathematical culture of Chinese scholars.This has been studied recently by Liu Dun, Isabelle Deron，and myself， independently.Isabelle Deron highlights the context of conflict and tension of the 1690-1691 geometry lessons，where France was represented by Bouvet and Gerbillon，and Portugal by An-  toine Thomas and Tome Pereira. ①Liu Dun analyses the Chinesemanuscripts on which the new Jihe yuanben are based.50000476_0136_0②He pro-poses the hypothesis that the French Jesuits' Plan was to system- atically substitute “French science”for all the science that hadbeen introduced into China until then， a plan that succeeded ful-ly in the case of Euclidean geometry.①Let me now take up thishighly interesting hypothesis，rephrasing it within the perspectiveI have adopted here.

One could say that the French invented，or at least denomi-nated， a Portuguese entity at work in China，which they associat-ed with“outdated science”，intending to replace it with“mod-ern”，i.e.French science. So “Portuguese science”would then include the translation of Clavius’version of Euclidean geome- try，and all the other works written by Ricci and those who had studied at the Roman College，as well as the more obviously Aristotelian and scholastic works on which Furtado and Dias worked.Here the adjectives French and portuguese can only be understood as referring to state sponsorship. And indeed Portugalhad been the sole state to patronise of the transmission of Westernscience to China until 1685.In other words the French used the

mathematical sciences to challenge Portugal’s monopoly on the  sponsoring of the China mission.

Before closing，let us return to the Chinese viewpoint.TheJesuits practice and use of the mathematical sciences at theKangxi court belied the image which their predecessors had triedto give，that of a harmonious Christian Europe，and also，of sci-ence  as  a  non-controversial  and  immutable  body  of  knowledge，like religion itself. But，as I have noted，the Chinese usually re-ferred to Western studies， without needing finer distinctions.Chinese scholars were far away from the court and its conflicts，and may not have been aware of the significance of nationalitydifferences among  the Jesuit.On the other hand， it is impossibleto think that the kangxi Emperor，to whom the French Jesuitshad been sent as ambassadors， and who in turn sent one of themback to France as his own representative， was completely un- aware of the conflicts among Jesuits.We have seen that he wasconcerned about the fact that all Europeans were obeying thesame foreign sovereign. When   scientific   controversies arose,whether between  Jesuits  and  Chinese  astronomers， or among Je-suits，he always saw to it that the matter be settled with a con-sensus on which method was the best. But，at a more politicallevel，he probably perceived that the permanent divisions under- mining the Jesuit missionaries who were working for him couldserve  his. or  indeed  China’s  interests.

CHINESE CHARACTERS

Boerduwaer                            波尔杜瓦尔

chouren                               畴人

Chouren zhuan                         畴人传

Da Xiyang ren                         大西洋人

douluriya                             陡录日亚

du                                    度

Duosidadu                             多斯达笃

Fang Tai suo jian shuxue zhenji       访台所见数学珍籍

feiluosuofeiya                        斐禄所费亚

feilusuoke                            斐禄所科

feixijia                              费西加

Folangji                              佛郎机

Fu Fanji                              傅汎济

Hong Ruohan                           洪若翰

Huanyouquan                           寰有诠

jiaohua                               教化

Jihe yuanben                          几何原本

jinshi                                进士

Kangxi                                康熙

Kunyu tushuo                          坤宇图说

Li Zhizao                             李之藻

liangfajia                            量法家

lifajia                               历法家

Lifa xichuan                          历法西传

Liu Dun                               刘钝

Lixiang kaocheng houbian              历象考成后编

Lizhi                                 历志

lülüjia                               律吕家

luorijia                              落日加

mademadijia                           玛得玛第加

Minglitan                             名理探

Mingshi                               明史

modafeixijia                          默达费西加

Qiankun tiyi                          乾坤体义

Rangaku                               兰学

Ruan Yuan                             阮元

Shu                                   数

Shuli jingyun                         数理精蕴

Shundi                                顺帝

Siku quanshu                          四库全书

Siku quanshu zongmu tiyao             四库全书总目提要

suanfajia                             算法家

Tianqi                                天启

Tianwenlüe                            天文略

Wangguo  quantu                       万国全图

Wanli                                 万历

wuxlng                                无形

Xixue                                 西学

Xiyang                                西洋

Xiyang ren                            西洋人

Xu Moude                              徐懋德

Yang Manuo                            阳玛诺

Yiwenzhi                              艺文志

Yongjian                              永建

Yunchuya                              云除亚

Zhifang waiji                         职方外纪

Zhongguo keji shiliao                 中国科技史料